Typewriting-machine



N. KOUSNETZUFF AND EQM. KOUZMIN.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1 919 Patented Jan13,1920.

'3 SHEETS- SHEET I.

ATTORNEYS N. KOUSNETZOFF AND E. M. KOUZMIN..,

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1919.

Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET- 2- WITNESSES m M T A TTORNEVS N. KOUSNETZUFF AND E. M. KOUZMI N.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, I919.

1,328,158, Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

3 SH ETSSHEET .3.

WITNESSES I v I INVENTORS BJMWMM I I BY M v I ATTORNEYS UNITED STAES PATENT OFFICE.

NICOLAS 'KOUSNETZOFF AND EUGENE M. KOUZMIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TYPEWBITINGr-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 13, 1920.

Application filed March.22, 1919. Serial No. 284,273.

chines and has particular reference to machines of this character that are com-' posed of the least possible number of.

lparts; that are practically noiseless; that ave provision for an absolutely uniform stroke or impression, and that are small and relatively light in construction, as well as being cheap and reliable in practice.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details. of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a V ractical embodiment thereof reference is ad to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the samev which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view indicating the general appearance of one of our machines complete.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a detail taken from the plane indicated by the line 2--2 of Fig. 4. v

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the character plates detachably connected to the? body or base of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the principal parts of the invention.

Fig.- 5 is a detail view of a. part ofthe guide rack for the actuating lever.

' Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the type wheel: and

Fig. 7 'is a vertical longitudinal section substantially on the plane indicated by' the line 77 of Fig. 4.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings we show our improved machine as comprising a base 10 having an arc'- shaped front 11 and a similarly shaped slot 12 just back of the front wall, the curvature of the front wall and the arc corresponding to the vertical pivot post 13 upon which is parts in the several views, and in journaled an actuating lever 14 and supported preferably upon ball bearings 15. The front end portion 14 of the actuating lever is flexible for vertical movements of a finger piece 16, but is substantially rigid laterally for the prompt actuation of the rear portion of the lever which carries or constitutes an are shaped rack 17 concentric With the pivot post 13 and meshing constantly with a cylindrical pinion 18 having lateral ball bearings 19 in a socket 20 supported by the base and having a stepbearing at 21 on the end of a lever 22. The front end of the actuating leverprojects forward and upward through andfrom the slot 12 and bears normally against the under face of the top plate 23 of the base and is depressible into cooperation with a guide rack 24 having a series of equally spaced V-shaped notches 25 each terminating in a vertical slot 26 serving to limit the downward stroke of the finger piece 16. These notches 25 are spaced so asto correspond-with the letters or other characters arranged on a character plate 27 detachably fixed upon the plate 23. Obviously the character plate 27 has letters or other char-- acters corresponding to the alphabet or the usage of any language or line of business, but for the purpose of this present description we have indicated the character plate having two rows of characters, the front row of which is alphabetical and for which we provide upper and lower case characters onthe type wheel 28, while the other row of characters on the character plate may be figures, numerals, or other selected set of characters.

The type wheel 28 is detachably secured upon the upper end of a vertical shaft 29 fixed to the pinion 18. The type wheel and connected pinion bear normally by gravity upon a set of ball bearings 30 arranged in the upper end of a guide cylinder31 and held in place by means of a. hub 32 having at its lower end an auxiliary set of bearing balls 33 against which the upper end of the pinion 18 is adapted to strike when lifted to the maximum position.

The type wheel comprises a hollow shell a reinforcement rim 36'. The number of slots corresponds to the number of intervals or spaces alon the character plate 27 and the V-shaped notches 25 in the guide 34 having a plurality of vertical slots 35 and wheel the lowermost type characters are. brought to the printing level and consequentlyat the intermediate level of the wheel the intermediate set of characters 38 are at the printing level, being so supported at the step bearing 21. Each of these flexible strips 37 is set into a seat 39 in the rim '36 and is bent inward at its upper end and set into a socket 40, the bend providing for a relatively free vision of the printing work on the sheet rolling over any suitable or conventional platen 41.

The lever 22 above-referred to and shown in detail in Figs. 1 and 4 is a lever of the first class and so suitably fulcrumed that when thefinger piece 42 is depressed as far as it maybe along a slot 43 the pinion 18 and type wheel will be lifted until stopped by the balls-33 bringing the lowermost type characters 38 to the printing level, such characters being represented in the drawings as being capitals;- A secondary finger piece 44 is connected to the same lever which may be depressed along a short slot 45 only half as far as the finger piece 42 along the slot 43. Consequently when the finger piece 44 is depressed the type wheel will be lifted only half way bringing the figure characters into the printing level.

As above intimated we are not particularly concerned with the construction and operation of the carriage shown as a whole at 45, but for'the purpose of this invention it may be stated that the carriage is mounted to roll upon anti-friction bearings 47 at the back part of the frame and when so moved by hand in one directionin the usual manner of typewriting machines a spring 48 will be wound up for the purpose of causing the step-by-step movement of the carriage in the opposite direction according to the actuation of the type and spacing members. The carriage includes also a rack 49 meshing normally with a gear 50 which in turn meshes with a gear 51 to which is rigidly connected an escapement wheel 52 to control the automatic step-by-step action of the carriage, and in order to move the carriage back and forth freely by hand the rack may be disconnected from the gear 50 by shifting actuating means including a lever 53, link 54 and a lever 55 as shown clearly in Fig. 7.

The escapement wheel 52 above referred to carries upper and lower sets of staggered" operation in the automatic operation of the machine. As shown best in Fig. 2 the escapement devices include a lever 58 pivoted ona fixed pivot at 59 from the base 10 of the machine, said lever having at its rear end a fork comprising upper and lower fingers 60 and 61 respectively, the upper finger havinga downwardly projecting lug 62 coijperating with the teeth 56, while the end of the finger 61 co6perates with the teeth 57 insuccession. These teeth on the upper and lower faces of the escapement wheel, as will be understood from Fig. 4, are on the same side of the axis of the wheel. The normal position of the escapement lever 58 is as shown in Fig. 2, being so held by virtue of a contractile spring 63 drawing downward upon the front end of the lever. If the finger end of the lever be swung downwardthe end of the finger 61 will release the tooth 57 normally lying against it and permit the escapement wheel to pass through one step of its movement or until the next succeeding tooth 56 strikes against the lug 62 and when the escapement lever returns to its normal position the lug 62 will pass up from the tooth stopped thereby and so permit the next tooth 57 to come into contact with the end of the finger61.

The oscillation of the escapement lever 58 may be effected in either of two ways; first automatically by means of the extension 64 of the trip lever arranged just below the actuating lever and pivoted on a horizontal pivot or axis 65 at the front of the machine. This trip lever includes a cross bar 66 adapted to be struck by a lug 67 carried by the flexible end 14 of the actuating lever when depressed. Another portion of the trip lever shown at 68 eX- tends rearward along the left side of the pmlon 18 and carries at its rear end a pin 69 acting as a trigger in connection with the position shown in Fig. 7 against the force of the spring 72 by the teeth 56 as they move in their path on the side of the wheel 52 opposite the escapement devices. The pin 69 snaps upward by virtue. of the spring 73 into a hole or notch 74 formed in the head portion of the hammer and thereby the hammer is held in its set or. cocked position. When, however, the trip lever is depressed'the pin 69 is withdrawn from the hammer head setting the hammer free for making the imprint of the letter or character 38. Immediately thereafter the trip lever bearing downward on the head 75 at the lower end of the extension of the finger p and the platen.

rename 60 will set the escapement wheel 52 free for another step of rotation and thereby causing in turn the resetting of the hammer by contact against the lower end therewith of the force upon the type characters insuring thereby perfectly uniform work on the printed sheet.

Step-by-step movement for spacing of the platen independently .of the automatic spacing due to'the actuation of the lever 14 may be accomplished by means of a lever 76 pivoted at 77 and associated with the escapement lever 58." This lever 76 may be depressed at any time when the spacing between Words or the like is desired, and the actuation of the escapement means through the lever 76 does not disturb the position of the trip lever, since the extension of the finger 60 is adapted to move downward.

freely through the trip lever extension 64 at such time.

The operation of our improvement it is thought will be readily understood from the foregoing description and may be briefly summarized as follows: With the paper to be written upon placed upon or around the platen 41 in the usual manner and adjusted in any conventional way, the operator with his right hand will manipulate the finger piece 16 bringing it directly in front of the character to be printed and will then do press the finger piece and actuating lever, bringing the flexible end of the lever into the notch 25 alined therewith causing thereby the downward actuation of the trip lever resulting as stated above immediately in'the releasing of the hammer to impinge against the selected character 38 making its imprint on the sheet. Then follows the release of the escapement lever through the extension 64 through the trip lever and finally the resetting of the hammer by virtue of the escapement wheel tooth 56 coming against the lower end of the hammer. It will, of course, be understood that in the movement of the finger piece laterally bringing it into operating position the type will have been rotated to bring the proper character into printing position or in the path of the hammer. The inked ribbon will, of course, be understood as being stretched across between the spools 78 mounted on vertical axes on opposite sides of the type wheel and so lies between the type characters 38 The actuation of the ribbon is accomplished by any suitable mechanism including a screw shaft 79 frem a of the gear 51. We make no claim, however.

for the platen or ribbon We claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, a type character holder comprising a Wheel, a. vertical support around which the Wheel may be rotated, said wheel having a plurality of parallel slots in its periphery, a series of flexible strips located in said slots and held detachably in the wheel, and a plurality of type characters carriedat uniform levels on and by said strips.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination of atype character wheel having a mechanism.

slotted cylindrical periphery, a vertical sup porting axis for the wheel, means to rotate the axis and wheel, means to lift the wheel, said wheel including a-plurality of selective type characters brought into position by the movements of the wheel aforesaid and located'in said slots, and an imp'act'member acting within the wheel and outward against the type characters in succession to cause the printingaction thereof in a uniform manner.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination-of a type character wheel having a slotted periphery, flexible strips located in said slots, a plurality of series of type characters carried by said flexible strips, the characters of each series being on the same level, means to lift the wheel to bring the desired character to the printing lever, an impact member Within the wheel and normally free therefrom adapted to impinge against the selected type character of any series, and a single actuating member serving when actuated to move the wheel around its axis to bring the selected character of any series into the path of the impact member and to initiate the action and resetting of the impact member.

4C. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a paper holding device and means to cause the automatic movement thereof in one direction, of escapement means for the paper holding device, selec- 1 tive type devices cooperating with the paper holding device at a certain printing field,

me'mber and acting as a trigger to hold it normally set but releasable by said action initiating means.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combi' nation of a hollow character holding wheel,

means supporting the wheel for rotation around a vertical axis. means to lift the wheel, a pivoted impact member acting with.-

in the wheel and movable outward toward ing to cause the adjustment of, the. Wheel the periphery thereofagainst the selected. around its axis and the release of the imtype character, a trigger device in the form pact device and the resetting of the device 10 of a spring actuated reciprocating pin holdautomatically.

ing the impact device in set position, combined escapement and impact device setting NICOLAS KOUSNETZOFF. means, and actuating and trip members serv- EUGENE M. KOUZMIN. 

